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Traditional fax machines and services are fast fading.  Small businesses are rapidly switching to alternative messaging methods because they are quick and convenient.  This, however, doesn’t mean that faxing as a service is outdated or irrelevant.  If anything, they are becoming even more entrenched in the business and health sectors.

Only this time, they have evolved into the online faxing medium.  Unlike traditional faxing where you would need things like fax machines, ink, toner and paper, online faxing systems are completely paperless, cheap, and provides even more security and privacy.  All businesses still need fax services to run smoothly and efficiently.  Here’s why:

 

Widely Recognized and Used

Now that we are in the age of internet and instant messaging, it would seem that fax services are no longer required.  This is not true at all.  In fact, the internet era has made it even more interesting and useful.  Moreover, judging by the over 100 million fax devices still in use today, businesses all over the world are still sending and receiving their faxes because it is a well-recognized business communication method.

 

Easy to Use and Traceable

Most online faxing systems are designed so that they can be easily used and require little or no technological knowhow.  They are built in such a way that all you have to do is to have access to a fax server, use one of the approved devices, and you can send your fax from anywhere through your email and without the need for any fax machine.

Faxes are also very traceable.  There’s always an indication that a sent fax was fully received.  The sender will get a notification as soon as this is completed.  The tracing capabilities of a fax machine become even more extensive when you use an online faxing solution over traditional methods.  These have copies of all sent and received files alongside their delivery status.

Furthermore, you can also use all organizational multifunctional peripheral devices with an online faxing system.  This will help ensure that all your fax messages are centralized on one server that can be easily accessed by everyone who has the necessary permission.

 

Has Legal Implications

Fax services are necessary because they also carry a legal implication.  Emails, social media messages and even project management collaborations do not have the legal implications that fax messaging has.  The T.30 fax protocol also applies to all online faxing services.

In fact, there are some compliance requirements that the compliance agencies have regarding the online faxing system.  Most online faxing systems also have a digital signature that helps make sure that the security of the sent and received data is not compromised in any way.

 

Guaranteed Message Delivery

Unlike SMS and emails that can be either redirected to the recipients spam folder or not seen by the SMS recipient, all fax messages are designed in such a way that you will always know if your message has delivered to the receiver’s location.  The notification is 99.9% certain.  So, with faxes, you can never have the non-receipt problems that are common with either email or SMS.

 

Easy to Integrate into Standing Messaging Equipments

If you already have a messaging system in place, integrating your online faxing system will be a breeze.  There’s no need to replace that system just because you want to install the system.  It is easy to integrate it with onsite systems and offsite or server-based messaging applications.

Moreover, if you want other ways to enhance your Document Management Service (DMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems or applications, try integrating your online faxing system.  You’ll be amazed at how much it’ll improve the efficiency of these systems.

 

Sources

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/med_fax_mac-media-fax-machines

 

Oscar King makes a living both by writing and by consulting with small businesses on ways to maximize workplace efficiency.  When searching for your own online fax service, he highly recommends FindAFax for comparing existing services and finding the best one to fit your needs.  You can learn more about Oscar by visiting him on Google+.